The day after, Andrew lost his memory.
He opened his eyes with difficulty in a place he didn’t even know.
But only after seeing the toilet bowl in front of him did he seem to realize it was a bathroom, and he frowned.
“Ugh…”
At a smell like something had rotted, he looked at himself reflected in the mirror.
His clothes were caked with vomit, and his face was deathly pale.
At his own whitish, washed-out face that you could believe was a corpse, Andrew recoiled in shock.
But maybe because of the smell, another wave rose up, and Andrew slammed his head into the toilet bowl.
“Uwek….”
Even while throwing up, a headache like his skull was about to split hammered at his head, and Andrew, unable to get a grip, leaned against the bathroom wall and closed his eyes.
Knock, knock.
“Andrew. You awake?”
A voice he didn’t welcome in this situation.
When he heard Kim Seunghun’s voice, Andrew cleared his throat once and answered.
“Uh… yeah. Where is this?”
“What, does it feel like you got locked up in prison?”
At Kim Seunghun’s teasing voice, Andrew asked without laughing.
“What happened yesterday? I don’t remember….”
“You drank a ton and blacked out. Tsk. There are comfy clothes I wear over there. See them? They’re on top of where the towels are.”
“Uh….”
“Since you stink, wash up and change into those. And can you handle spicy food?”
As Andrew took off his stinking clothes, he answered.
“I eat it fine. Yeah.”
“They say foreigners can’t handle spicy stuff.”
“I handle it fine. Is that racism?”
“Ha, if you can joke, you must be coming to your senses.”
Kim Seunghun said with a laugh mixed in.
“Well then, I’ll make the hangover cure myself, so wash up and come out or something. Mr. Puker.”
“Pu… puker?”
“You’ll be hearing it the whole shoot, so get used to it, haha.”
“…?”
At Kim Seunghun’s laughter fading away, Andrew tilted his head as if puzzled and turned on the hot water.
“Hoo….”
A suitable temperature.
As that warmth wrapped around his body, a pleased sound came out on its own.
But what on earth had happened yesterday?
Aside from saying a few words to Kim Seunghun, he couldn’t remember anything.
Only now did he understand what Gyeong Chanhyeon had meant.
‘Normally, when you talk seriously, you drink this. Want to try it?’
Soju made people honest.
It didn’t give that throat-burning feeling like whiskey, so it made you keep drinking without pause, and you thought it was a light liquor, but if you kept at it, you’d suddenly get knocked flat in one go.
Because of that, hadn’t he said everything he should and shouldn’t have?
Andrew thought, letting the hot water hit him.
But nothing came back clearly.
The only thing he remembered at all was nagging Kim Seunghun a few times.
“Damn it… in the end, that damn luck again….”
And on top of that, of all things, he’d ended up at Kim Seunghun’s house in a state of no memory.
Thinking of his awkward face, Andrew scratched his head hard.
‘And what the hell is “puker”….’
The vomit covering his clothes the moment he opened his eyes.
But when did he even throw up…?
The instant that question rose, even with hot water covering his body, a chill ran down his spine.
And in that moment.
A faint memory surfaced.
That memory of drunk emotions flaring, sucking in breaths too fast, and what was inside coming out.
At that memory, Andrew grabbed his head and shouted.
“Damn iiiiit!”
Hearing the howl from the bathroom, Kim Seunghun was startled for a moment, but soon a natural smile spread at the corner of his mouth.
It was because his place was close that he’d brought Andrew home, but it had been quite a hard job.
A trash-like stench and a heavy body.
After dragging him in while doing everything he could so the vomit wouldn’t get on him, it felt like his whole body ached.
“Since he said he can eat spicy stuff…”
Kim Seunghun hummed as he cooked the ramen he ate for hangovers.
He first stir-fried thick slices of pork belly to render the pork fat, then sliced green onion and threw it on top.
And when the green onion wilted and it looked like the pork fat had taken on a heavy onion fragrance, he poured in water and started adding the soup base—then hesitated.
He wondered for a moment if it was okay to take in this much sodium today too when he’d eaten a lot yesterday, then squeezed his eyes shut and shook every last bit of soup base in without leaving any.
The final finishing touch.
He sliced cheongyang chilies and even did the finishing decoration.
At its appetizing appearance, Kim Seunghun looked at the ramen he’d cooked and smiled with satisfaction.
Andrew, who came out at perfect timing, saw the ramen and frowned.
“What on earth… did you make? What is this….”
“You said you can eat spicy food.”
“No, I can eat spicy, but… this is spicy to the eyes.”
“Try it. Your stomach will drop right down. Mr. Puker.”
At the word “puker,” Andrew plopped down into the chair without saying anything.
And the moment he lifted ramen with a fork and put it into his mouth, he jerked as if he’d been electrocuted.
“Is it too spicy?”
“N-no! It’s not spicy. Cough.”
Even coughing, Andrew kept making “ssup” sounds as he spit saliva out over and over.
Watching that, Kim Seunghun held back laughter.
Maybe because he’d gotten a rough sense of what kind of person Andrew was, he started acting like it was spicy first.
“Ah, I must’ve cooked it wrong. It’s really spicy. Ha. Sssup. Ha.”
Then he made a fuss, gulped down a cup of milk, and poured Andrew a glass too.
“Whew, drink.”
“Khm, khm.”
As if he had no choice, Andrew drank the milk right away.
“You really don’t remember yesterday at all?”
“Uh… yeah. Seems like it.”
“I heard some weird sound earlier.”
“Ah, that… I stepped on something wrong on the floor. Haha. Ha….”
Andrew answered with an awkward smile, looking embarrassed. Then he quickly changed the subject.
“Do you live alone?”
“Yes. It’s been a while. Since my mid-twenties, I’ve lived alone in Seoul.”
“For someone living alone, your place is clean.”
“Haha. Well, these days I’m barely home. I work out and practice acting and things.”
At the words “practice acting,” Andrew nodded while looking far away.
“But do you remember what you said to me yesterday?”
“Roughly….”
“Haha. So you do remember?”
“…”
Looking sheepish, Andrew brought the ramen to his lips lightly, then drank another cup of milk.
“If you were hurt by what I said, I am sorry, but I don’t think I did anything wrong. And I don’t think I’m wrong either.”
At Andrew’s words, Kim Seunghun nodded.
After shoving the stinking Andrew into the bathroom and lying in bed thinking it over,
Kim Seunghun did think that, to some extent, Andrew’s words had a point.
But because he’d been so hung up on the way he said it, wasn’t he missing the essence of what he was saying?
With that thought, he’d planned to have a serious talk with Andrew this morning.
“Yes. Well. Haha. When I thought about it carefully, I felt like what you said has a point too. Starting from whether I’m a real actor or not, I couldn’t even sleep properly last night.”
“A good start.”
Andrew put his mouth to the ramen again, then pulled back.
“Don’t struggle trying to eat that. Eat something else. Usually what do you do for a hangover?”
“Bread with melted cheese.”
At Andrew’s answer, Kim Seunghun frowned.
“You cure a hangover with something greasy?”
“Curing it with spicy is weirder. And this is way beyond a level of spicy a human can eat! You can’t even eat it either.”
At Andrew’s words, Kim Seunghun snorted and said,
“Then I’ll order you pizza, so cure it with that. Okay?”
“I’d like it to be pepperoni. Anything with pineapple is trash. It’s not pizza.”
“You’re picky.”
Kim Seunghun called a franchise pizza place saved in his phone and ordered a pepperoni pizza.
“Then I’m eating all of this?”
“What? Weren’t you the one who couldn’t eat it?”
“This level is light. It’s way weaker than what I usually eat.”
“Huh…?”
Kim Seunghun scooped up a big forkful from the pot and slurped the ramen into his mouth.
Then he chewed with a satisfied smile.
Andrew stared at him with his mouth hanging open.
“It’s not spicy…? Then why did you pretend it was?”
“Because you seemed to have a lot of pride, so I was trying to protect it.”
“…….”
Andrew was silent for a moment at Kim Seunghun’s words.
At that, Kim Seunghun, looking a bit self-conscious, held up some meat with the ladle toward Andrew.
“Do you want at least some meat?”
“No, it’s fine.”
Andrew answered with a laugh.
Then, watching Kim Seunghun silently doing nothing but eating, Andrew asked.
“Filming starts next week—what kind of person is Director Gyeong? You’d know him far better than me.”
“Chanhyeon? Hm….”
Chewing the ramen he’d stuffed into his mouth, Kim Seunghun rolled his eyes this way and that.
Then after swallowing, he smiled and answered.
“First of all, he’s a crazy bastard.”
At Kim Seunghun’s words, Andrew laughed loudly and replied.
“Haha, that I know too.”
Adding to that, Andrew explained what had happened with Gyeong Chanhyeon in England. Then Kim Seunghun laughed and said,
“So you got played too, Andrew. Haha. I’ve gotten played by Chanhyeon too. But what’s certain is, when it comes to movies, he’s even crazier.”
“What?”
“Lighting, filming, props—his nerves are tight about everything, and yet he spots what the problem is instantly. So shoots rarely drag on. If anything, it ends so fast you wonder if it’s really okay to finish this quickly.”
At Kim Seunghun’s words, Andrew nodded, surprised.
“And it really feels like he knows something. Director Gyeong doesn’t have a single movie that flopped. It’s like he moves with total certainty that his movie will succeed. Look at how he brought you in. He bought a flight to England right away and went himself. That’s not a thought that comes out of a normal person’s head.”
“That’s true…”
“That’s why there are tons of actors desperate to film with him. But he even contacted superstars, and there were articles saying Chanhyeon rejected them. But do you know what’s even more surprising?”
Kim Seunghun continued while stirring the pot to dig out meat under the broth.
“Those superstars end up ruined by bad incidents. Drugs, DUI… so on the internet, Chanhyeon’s nickname is ‘the personality-detecting director,’ you know?”
“Hm… interesting.”
“Every time something like that happens, he says his intuition is good and all. He’s a guy you can’t figure out even if you try. Haha.”
At Kim Seunghun’s words, Andrew smiled and said,
“Then it means he called you and me because we’re decent people.”
“For you, well… you’re a foreigner, so who knows. Haha. Since you’re the first foreign actor, you’re the first test to see whether Chanhyeon’s intuition applies to foreigners too.”
Did Andrew smack his lips?
And around the time Kim Seunghun finished the ramen, the intercom chimed that the pizza had arrived.
“Your hangover cure is here.”
Kim Seunghun opened the door and brought the pizza in, and when Andrew saw the pepperoni piled thickly on it, he swallowed, mouth watering.
“I’ll eat well.”
“Go ahead.”
Kim Seunghun split the pizza in half first. At that, Andrew looked at Kim Seunghun.
“What is it…?”
“I’m going to try an English-style hangover cure too.”
“After you just ate like that?”
“Only today. Four slices is enough for a hangover, isn’t it?”
“…”
The impression Andrew had been getting of Kim Seunghun that had started to improve instantly began to look like a starving monster possessed by a hunger spirit.
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